Freedom
of Speech 
Freedom
of Speech
The Czech Republic vs. The United States
Chris Henry, Jennifer Lemkul, Brian Maher, Max Moldenhauer, Mike Richmond
Czech Republic Response
The Czech Republic’s response would be to accept the school’s
decision to remove the site from the Internet. The school would
be allowed to remove the site and there would be nothing the student
could do to change this decision. The student may believe that many
of his freedoms protected by the Czech Constitution were violated.
However, due to the prevailing attitude of the citizens of the Czech
Republic, the student would not fight this decision too much.
Specific Czech response from the e-mail interview of Beata Olekszyk:
Milo Mike,
Thank you for asking me to answer your school question, it is quite an honor.
I will try my best to answer your difficult question for you. In the former
Czechoslovakia, life (or rules) were very much different (than today.) The
government was very strict, so such situations with the web pages did not exist,
nor was it allowed, and that was just 13 years ago. The schools then did not
have (or did not teach) computers like they do today. Today the situation is
different. More people have computers, and probably web pages, more in the city
like Prague than in the country. Do you want me to get more information for you?
I don’t know exact laws for computers by school or government. I’m sorry.
I don’t know anyone who has a web page, or a computer. They are very expensive.
But I will try to find someone. I’m sorry. I’ll write you soon. (or talk to
you soon?)
Beata Olekszyk
This proved to be an interesting interview; I interviewed someone from the Czech
Republic via e-mail. Her response does not really apply directly to our scenario, but
it illustrates the state of the country. The Czech Republic did not get the freedom
of speech until 1990, due to the fall of communism in 1989 which was a result of
the Velvet Revolution. So, this concept is a relatively new one to the citizens of the
Czech Republic. Beata is also a graduate student in chemistry, and mentions that
she does not know anyone with a web page or even a computer due to the expense.
This extrapolates the difference in culture and technology between our country and hers.